I don't know about business to know how this will turn out. On one side, yes, Frank at the helm is amazing and keep this boat on course. On the other, NECA is going to have their input, and if they supply Frank with a cr@ppy boat and a small crew, the boat will sink in rough waters.

So I guess, all i and we can do, is sit back and hope for the best

My wish list - the one and only thing:
Noferin Pecan Pal: Colored version Fanellisales thread http://forums.kidrobot.com/viewtopic.ph ... 0#p2065190100+ Buying, selling, muling transactions over the years. Plenty of references.
____________________________________________>>>DO NOT SUPPORT DEKORNER, Toy Tokyo

Like I just said to a friend, I'm overall glad. KR was on the brink of bankruptcy and now is safe. Also, who better than the legend Frank Kozik to take the creative lead!! I'm only worried they want to use more licenses now. Anyway it's good news.

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“Old boys have their playthings as well as young ones; the difference is only in the price.” -Benjamin Franklin.
Great Peeps: MAKO•NICKNARDS•Callahan86•Tesio•Mikasrhoom•Twentytwo•Thermometer•Salamander•Miami_kr•coreyxc4•Dab City 2•foto junkaay•jfactor13•bungholio•DeSEBticoN•coreyxc4•Bundleofjon•Almightymalikai•PhatBastard•Nisares•Therealchinaman•Kmuray•Russ•Choochoochocobo•

I'm interested in what "artist driven" means. It's presented very vaguely in the press release. NECA either wants to add an art toy company to its stable of licensed fare, or they're just blowing smoke and making the same plan as the original investors Budnitz sold to, who wanted KR to be the next Funko. Kozik has always been an excellent businessman, so I could see him being on board with either strategy.

Seeing Bob Africa's name in the press release is concerning. If they're not firing the bigwigs who ran the company into the ground in the first place, then they're just setting themselves up for failure again. The guy doesn't collect, and spent the last half year firing every employee in the company who does. If KR wants longtime art collectors like myself on board, they need to fill their staff with people who are passionate about art toys. Not former sportswear executives just there to collect a paycheck each week. Hiring back Noel would be a good first move.

So to summarize for the tl;dr crowd: Excited about Kozik, excited about the possibilities for the future, but cautiously wary of their plan for the future. I hope they do well and start making art toys again.

could someone explain how this works? i'm all for Kozik taking the helm as creative director...but under NECA...who has multiple licenses with movies, music, tv shows etc. is going to allow for an artist based division? okay NECA will handle all licensed products...but what stops the big wigs from NECA saying to this division...maaaybe these artists should design for this movie or this tv show or this music giant?

I'm actually surprised people are not universally excited about this. How can it not get better, even for the simple fact that it couldn't be any worse right now. I work for a multi billion dollar company and while change and upheaval are always concerning, if you have a shrewd business person running the helm (like Kozik) things generally tend to work out and improve. Have faith in Frank.

paul wrote:I'm interested in what "artist driven" means. It's presented very vaguely in the press release. NECA either wants to add an art toy company to its stable of licensed fare, or they're just blowing smoke and making the same plan as the original investors Budnitz sold to, who wanted KR to be the next Funko. Kozik has always been an excellent businessman, so I could see him being on board with either strategy.

Seeing Bob Africa's name in the press release is concerning. If they're not firing the bigwigs who ran the company into the ground in the first place, then they're just setting themselves up for failure again. The guy doesn't collect, and spent the last half year firing every employee in the company who does. If KR wants longtime art collectors like myself on board, they need to fill their staff with people who are passionate about art toys. Not former sportswear executives just there to collect a paycheck each week. Hiring back Noel would be a good first move.

So to summarize for the tl;dr crowd: Excited about Kozik, excited about the possibilities for the future, but cautiously wary of their plan for the future. I hope they do well and start making art toys again.

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“Old boys have their playthings as well as young ones; the difference is only in the price.” -Benjamin Franklin.
Great Peeps: MAKO•NICKNARDS•Callahan86•Tesio•Mikasrhoom•Twentytwo•Thermometer•Salamander•Miami_kr•coreyxc4•Dab City 2•foto junkaay•jfactor13•bungholio•DeSEBticoN•coreyxc4•Bundleofjon•Almightymalikai•PhatBastard•Nisares•Therealchinaman•Kmuray•Russ•Choochoochocobo•

I am kidding (I hope.) This should be interesting to say the least so that alone will make it worth watching. Fact is Kidrobot was about to die off, this will keep them at least on life support for a bit longer.

NECA already is a monster with licenses, it would be nice to leave that focus over on their end and completely drop licensed goods from the Kidrobot line-up (wishful thinking but who knows.)

“It’s rare to have the opportunity to join forces with an artist-centric company like this,” said Joel Weinshanker, COO of NECA. “We are doubly thrilled to be able to allow it to grow organically and flourish on its own, which is what we’re certain it will do with the involvement of Frank Kozik as creative director."

Tldr: they have 50 billion licenses already and are successfully marketing/selling them thru the NECA brand. KR is pretty much gonna be it's own autonomous entity that they want selling/creating stuff that made them famous: Art Toys.

Last edited by Ath on Wed Nov 19, 2014 11:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

As someone who collected NECA way before I knew about Kidrobot this is a welcome change in a company so many had written off over the past 2 years. And with Frank as the creative director I hope things fall back into place. KR needed something and someone to bring collectors back.

What exactly is Kidrobot Purchase, LLC? And what does it mean for them to have aquired Kidrobot? Pretty excited about Frank Kozik being brought on in such a hands-on fashion, though!

To answer that question, a company was formed and used to buy KR, and that company name is Kidrobot Purchase LLC.

Having the Godfather at the helm, will make for an interesting run right back up the hill to Stardom - imho.

Hoping that all the Simpsons 25th Anniversary figures are now released, as NECA has been producing Simpsons products for a while now. As an outsider, this seems like a perfect fit and we all should benefit from this move.